An investor-backed college is putting plans for a medical school on hold to focus on meeting a tight deadline to get full professional accreditation for its pharmacy school.

California Northstate University officials said they now hope to begin medical school enrollment in July 2014.

The decision — made last week by the for-profit university’s board of directors — follows news that the Rancho Cordova pharmacy school failed to get full professional accreditation as expected in June. The school has less than a year to make changes and try again next summer.

Simultaneously, the proposed California Northstate University College of Medicine faced an Aug. 15 deadline to file an application for candidacy status as a new medical school. Approval takes months and must be received before enrollment can begin.

“We’ve been on a really aggressive schedule, with good intentions in mind,” university vice president Norman Fong said. “It’s in the best interest of everybody to slow it down and make absolutely sure we get full (pharmacy school) accreditation next summer. It’s our obligation to staff, faculty, students, investors and the community.”

Slow it down is the mantra, not stop, Fong said. Planning for the medical school will continue, although construction has slowed at the Elk Grove campus the two schools plan to share. The pharmacy school is expected to move in 2014.

Still unclear is whether money was at issue in the decision to delay the schedule for the medical school.

University officials say the school isn’t running out of money and that fundraising continues. They will not divulge any information about current or potential investors, but insiders speaking on condition of anonymity say venture capital financing is pending that could strengthen the accreditation application.

Launched in 2008, the California Northstate University College of Pharmacy graduated its first class in June but failed to get full accreditation from the National Council of Pharmacy Education as expected.

It’s unclear exactly what the problems are — school officials will not release the report — but Dean Shane Desselle says it has nothing to do with the educational program. Primary issues relate to communication and a need to formalize strategic planning, he said last month.

The stakes are high.

News of the delay has angered students who pay more than $40,000 a year for the four-year program and wonder about the viability of their future degree. Accreditation also is important to local business people who helped bankroll the pharmacy school and the twin effort to launch a medical school.

Also at stake is a highly unusual venture into for-profit medical education. The lack of public funding for schools — and a shortage of pharmacists and doctors — mean it’s time to take another route, backers say.

“There’s a bias against for-profit schools anyway,” Fong said of the accreditation effort. “If we screw up and don’t hit a home run (on the medical school), we face a wait of two more years.”

The Sacramento medical community is watching developments at the two schools and wondering how to react.

“Doctors are talking about it, mostly because a lot of physicians have been approached by the school about being part of the faculty,” said Aileen Wetzel, executive director of the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society.

“But it’s frustrating. With no background information about the organization and who the investors are, they don’t know what to think.”

One of those investors is Grant Lackey, a pharmacist and professor at the University of California Davis. He is not concerned about the change in plans.

“As an investor, I need to rely on their judgment,” Lackey said. “I know they are working very hard to make sure accreditation is approved.”

Former Sacramento County Supervisor Illa Collin, a university trustee, also said she agrees with the decision.

“We owe it to the graduates of the program,” she said.

Correction/Clarification

An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that university vice president Norman Fong was speaking about the pharmacy school when he said “If we screw up and don’t hit a home run, we face a wait of two more years.”